Fermenting and kegging

[CaptainCBF]

Hi, very new to this. I have my first brew coopers hefe out of a can in a fermenter at the moment sitting in a fridge with temperature controller sitting at 20 degrees. Been about 4 days bubbling away nicely. After the fermentation is finished, and is down to the correct gravity, I want to put in a keg and Co2 it. Questions are
1. Is it a good idea to leave in fermenter for an additional 2 weeks or so in temp controlled fridge still at 20 degrees and then chill it and keg it?
2. Or keg it straight after fermentation has finished leaving it at room temperature for a few weeks and then chill.
In other words what would you do in this situation. Cheers, much appreciated.

 

[Heath72]

Following

 

[j.griffiths21169]

No expert here but once bubbling has ceased take a SG leave it 2 days take another SG if it hasn't changed you can assume fermentation has ceased (as long as SG has drop to around the figure it should be at ). If not racking into another fermenter for secondary ferment , put straight into the keg . I'll smash around 30 psi of co2 and put it straight into fridge to chill . At least twice a day I'll rock the keg back and forth for about 5 minutes (like a baby) . I'll give it about a week then hook it up to my tap release the gas in the keg ( drop from 30 to around 10psi) and try it . Can be done sooner but I've always got other kegs on tap ...hope that helps , as i said not an expert but this seems to work for me .

 

[CaptainCBF]

Great, thanks. I'll give it a go.

 

[Gordy]

Bubbling has stopped may as well keg it. It can still keep fermenting in keg and help with co2 may get a little it more sediment but that's O K unless you want to drink straight away. I ferment under pressure and send straight to keg. Already carbonated hold at 10-12 psi for week and sip away. the longer you leave the better it is but keep refrigerated, all is good

 

[raturay]

No expert here either however one thing I have learnt, especially since going all grain, is that yeast does a whole lot more than simply produce the alcohol content of the beer evident at the end of active fermentation. Even if there is no diaectyl evident I would be leaving it on the yeast for at least a full 10 days allowing the yeast to do its cleanup (as I said no expert so I don't know exactly what this is - maybe someone like WEAL could expand on this for us). I once went on holidays in the middle of doing a lager. It ended up on the yeast for five weeks and was probably the best lager I have made.

 

[MHB]

Hefeweizen literally means Yeast Wheat or perhaps Yeasty Wheat would be a better description.
Good rule of thumb for brewing Hefe is 7 days in the fermenter, 7 days in the keg and 7 days to drink it.
Hefeweizen is the fastest turnaround beer you can make, it is alwayse at its best at its youngest and freshest.

Its a style that breaks a lot of the rules for most other types of beer, personally I think Hefe yeast can almost be regarded as a separate family of yeast, as distinct as Lager and Ale with as much attention being required to its management to get the most out of it as we apply to making the best Lager or Ale.

Depending on exactly what you want from the yeast, ferment it, keg it drink it pretty much as fast as you can. While keeping the fermentation at the right temperature, cooler will give more of the clove/phenolic and warmer emphasises the banana and bubblegum flavours.
Do not crash chill it, you want to keep the yeast in suspension (mit Hefe) so get to your FG, go from the fermenter to the keg. I like the results we get from priming the keg and keeping it at fermentation temperatures to condition better than the results of force carbonating.

Its an easy beer to brew, and very hard to brew well, but a lot of fun and offers a fast turnaround. It rewards very good yeast management.
Mark